Ducks set record in win over Huskies

Beach

02/14/2008

EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon Ducks shot down the Washington Huskies with a record 14 3-pointers, downing Washington 71-58 at venerable McArthur Court Thursday night as both teams entered the game knowing that their post-season hopes hinged on the game's outcome.

The Ducks (15-9, 6-6) got double-figure scoring from five different players and shot 14 of 25 from deep as they took advantage of Washington's defensive rotations. The 14 3-pointers against UW set a 2007-08 opponent record. The most made to date this year was 11 - done three times - the last time by Idaho State on New Year's Eve.

Oregon has made 18 3-pointers the past two games, shooting 56 percent from deep.

"When teams like that who shoot a lot of threes and get on a roll, it's hard to stop," said Washington forward Jon Brockman.

Washington (13-12, 4-8), coming off their biggest upset victory of the season last Sunday versus 5th ranked UCLA, were hoping to build off that momentum, but it didn't carry over. Justin Dentmon led the Huskies with 16 points, while Jon Brockman scored 13 points and added 11 rebounds.

"We had a lot of breakdowns in our defensive coverage," shared a subdued Washington Head Coach Lorenzo Romar afterwards. "They're just too potent offensively for us to make those kinds of mistakes."

The game started ugly, the Huskies turning the ball over on three of their first four possessions. Fortunately, the Ducks were equally inept, with three turnovers in the same space.

Things quickly got worse for the Huskies moments later as Jon Brockman was sent to the bench after picking up his second foul, though Romar rolled the dice and reinserted him at the 9 minute mark of the half.

The Ducks never took advantage of Brockman's foul trouble though, with an offense totally predicated on shooting the three. True to recent form, Oregon shot the lights out in the half, going 7-12 from downtown despite Washington's active defense.

"They penetrate and kick so well," explained Romar after the game. "We wanted to keep them out of the paint, but we didn't do a very good job of it."

One of the more interesting moments in the half occurred on an inbound play by Tim Morris. Morris, with the five-second count clicking down, tried to inbound the ball off of Oregon forward Catron to avoid turning the ball over. Clearly trying to avoid another incident like the one in the closing moments of the UCLA game where he pelted the Bruins' Alfred Aboya in the face, Morris tried to bounce the ball off of Catron's midsection, which the sophomore easily sidestepped, resulting in a Washington turnover.

The Ducks already hot from outside in the first half, came out of the locker-room scorching for the final twenty minutes, hitting three quick 3's as they extended their lead from six to 16 in the first four minutes to open the game up for good.

"They hit like 14 (threes)," said Brockman regarding Oregon's 3-point proficiency. "A lot of it was off those hand-offs and rub screens, and they got us on those, and then they'd get us rotating.

"They were just toying with us out there," Brockman added.

And as hot as Oregon was from deep, the Huskies were in a deep-freeze. It took nearly 26 minutes before Washington's Ryan Appleby finally hit a 3-point shot. Appleby was just 2 of 7 from three, scoring eight points on the night. Oregon's student-section - the 'Pit Crew' - was expected to give Appleby a reception similar to that of UCLA's Kevin Love earlier this year, but a subdued Crew chose to rain Appleby with a shower of boos every time he touched the ball. It worked.

"If the Pit crew would have affected (Ryan) Appleby, they would have done it last year," said Romar when asked about the crowd. "It was worse last year and he scored 19 points in the first half."

"When you can throw five guys at one guy, pretty soon his legs are going to wear down a bit," Oregon Head Coach Ernie Kent said of Appleby's night. "I thought we were fantastic at taking one of the best shooters in the conference out of his rhythm."

"Those same looks last year, Appleby hit them," added Romar.

A brief five-point run keyed by Dentmon cut the Huskies' second-half deficit to 11, but that's as close as Washington was able to get. Time after time Oregon was able to get deep jumpers to regain momentum.

Considering Washington's struggles from beyond the Arc, the Huskies could do little to cut into the Oregon lead. It doesn't take a math major to recognize that trading twos for threes doesn't work when trying to cut into a lead.